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It’s obvious the Lakers need changes. Big changes. The Oklahoma City Thunder are younger, deeper, more athletic and just flat out better. And they are not going anywhere for a few years. That’s not to mention up-and-coming contenders like the Clippers in the West that are passing where the Lakers seem stuck on the side…

Looks like iso-Melo will be alive and well in New York. It’s not unexpected, but it appears the Knicks are nearing a long-term deal to keep Mike Woodson on as head coach, reports Al Iannazzone at Newsday. The Knicks officially are expected to remove the interim label from Mike’s title this week, according to multiple…

Apparently Kevin Garnett thought Sixer fans would not be fired up enough for Game 6 in Philadelphia Wednesday night. When asked to compare what had been a raucous Garden crowd Monday night to what awaited them in Philly on Wednesday KG decided to take a shot, reports John Finger at CSNPhilly.com. “Not even close,” Garnett said.…

For your DVR setting purposes (or, if you’re old, VCR), we bring you the schedule for the NBA Western Conference finals. Which right now, with the way the banged up Heat, aging Celtics, underdog Sixers and Pacers are playing feels a lot like an NBA finals. The series start next Sunday, which means the Spurs…

The future is now. It can be said that the Thunder have done nothing more than advanced to the same position they reached last season before falling to another team from Texas in the Western Conference Finals. But this doesn’t feel that way. The Thunder exorcised their Mavericks demons in the first round, then took out…

One shot does not decide a game. There are always circumstances, things that might have gone differently. But one shot can spark a run and change the feeling of a game. All Game 5 Monday night the Lakers hung close. They would not go away. Kobe Bryant dropped 42. But you just had the feeling…

As the Orlando Magic look for a new coach and general manager, they need to be thinking guys who can rebuild a team and do it without Dwight Howard. Because it felt like he was going to be gone anyway. And now comes this from Chris Sheridan of SheridanHoops.com — Howard may have won the…

In Game 3, Doc Rivers went with a lot of small ball and not enough Brandon Bass, and after the loss said he regretted it. Well, that worked out well. Brandon Bass scored 18 of his 27 points in the third quarter — Bass alone outscore the Sixers 18-16 in the third — and that…

In case you haven’t seen it, Jay Pharoah did his impersonation of Stephen A. Smith, talking about LeBron James, during the Weekend Update “news” part of Saturday Night Live . I like it. Just a little exaggerated, but not much.

If you haven’t noticed this post season, whenever a Celtics player makes a big play on the floor the bench gets up and celebrates by flexing. You’ll see it a little tonight in a key Game 5. If you see a lot of it the Pacers are in trouble.

Two years ago, when they won the title in 2010, the Lakers were the team that came back and won games like the one they lost Saturday. Back then it was the Lakers closing on a 25-7 run and getting the defensive stops. It was Kobe Bryant hitting the big shots. It was their opponents…

Orlando Magic CEO Tony Martins tried to lay down a full field of cover for Dwight Howard on the day the Magic sent coach Stan Van Gundy and general manager Otis Smith packing. He essentially went with the “it’s not you, it’s me” line that always works so well when you tried to break off…

What part of Game 4 will we see repeated in Game 5? The start where the Celtics looked poised and crisp and raced out to a 14 point lead? Or the second half where the Sixers dominated the offensive glass, got fantastic bench play from Lavoy Allen (guarding Kevin Garnett) and Thaddeus Young, they had…

And the “we will do anything to keep Dwight Howard happy” parade continues. The Orlando Magic have announced that they are parting ways with coach Stan Van Gundy as well as GM Otis Smith. Follow that link if you want to read the generic “he was great for us” quotes from the owner that just…

Here is our daily look around the NBA — links to stories worth reading and notes to check out (stuff that did not get its own post here at PBT) — done in bullet point form. Because bloggers love bullet points. • Coach Brian Scalabrine? Why not? • There are reports that Knicks guard J.R.…

We told you already — via our man Matt Steinmetz at CSNBayArea.com — who would be on the USA Select team. But now it is official, USA Basketball announced it Monday. The USA Select team are the guys brought in to scrimmage and practice against the Team USA Squad going to London this year for…

The conventional wisdom is that the Knicks will not let Jeremy Lin go this summer. The point guard is a restricted free agent who can get up to $5 million in his next deal and he will — partially for his on-the-court skills as a guard but also because he is a marketing gold mine…

The Clippers were eliminated, swept right out of the playoffs by the Spurs Sunday night. But it didn’t feel like a painful elimination as much as the start of a journey. Clippers fans stayed and cheered for minutes after what may have been the best season in franchise history. The players talked about the loss…

Nate McMillan will be an NBA coach somewhere next year if he wants to be. Every time an opening comes up, his name will be there after he did a strong job leading a Portland Trail Blazers team led by Brandon Roy. He will get a lot of interviews. First up is the Charlotte Bobcats,…

No longer will all 30 NBA general managers be voting on rule changes. And really, why should the guys in charge of basketball operations teams be in charge of rule changes? That makes sense. Under the direction of David Stern, the NBA has put together a smaller committee made up of owners, GMs and coaches…